Monthly Archives: February 2010

I need 5 more cards to complete my Greg Maddux player collection. I can easily scoop these up on a number of baseball card marketplace-type websites, but I want this to be a bit more fun than that.

So, here is what I want to do. If you can fulfill my need for any 1 of the 5 cards pictured below, I will send you an autographed card of your choice. And if you happen to have 2 that I need, you get two autographed cards. Etc, etc, etc…

Here are the 5 remaining cards I want to obtain:

1987 Donruss - 'The Rookies'

1989 Fleer - MVPs

1992 Fleer Ultra - Award Winners

1992 Topps Stadium Club - Members Only

1992 Topps - GOLD

If you have any of the above 5 cards and are willing to part with them, please let me know. I really want to complete this set and I would love the help from my readers in doing so.

I’m offering up all of the following cards…

So rummage through your stuff to see what you can find. If you happen to come across any of the Maddux cards I need simply leave a comment on this post telling me which one you have and which auto you’d like to trade for.

This is the first card of Dale Murphy that I have picked up since choosing him as a new focal point of my player collections.

And away we go…

The card comes from Donruss’ premier issue in 1981. Overall, the cards lacks originality, but I do like the rather large space they left for a big picture. Normally posed photos and I do not get along, but with this card it works as we get to see a young Dale Murphy right before he was getting ready to dominate the National League and win back-to-back MVP awards during the 1982 & 1983 baseball seasons.

The Story – At home, and in front of 44,000+ fans, the Cardinals took on their divisional rivals – The Chicago Cubs. Ironically, the Cubs were the team that Brock entered the major leagues with. On this day, Brock made baseball history capturing the 3,000th hit of his big league career. In the game, Brock went 2-for-2 raising his batting average to .326. And while his day momentous for his career and baseball history, it was just as important that his two hits helped the Cardinals win the game 3-2.

Baseball History – The game’s second greatest base stealer of all-time also ranks in 23rd place on the all-time hits list with 3,023 career hits.

Were the jumbo cards of the 1980’s the patch cards of today??? Who knows…

What I do know is that these 1986 and 1987 Donruss Jumbo All-star cards of Darryl Strawberry make a very nice addition to my collection that honors him and his playing days with the New York Mets.

And while I like these cards, I have a terribly hard time storing them!! 99% of my cards are in 2,400 count boxes. And while those boxes allow me to easily store and organize my player collections, these larger than normal cards are unable to hang out with their buddies.

So in a separate, and much smaller box are my little(or rather large) oddballs. My Dawsons, my Murrays, and now these 2 Jumbo cards of Darryl Strawberry!!!

Clay Kirby’s major league career lasted just 9 years. But he found himself playing for one of the greatest dynasties in baseball during its glory years – the 1975 Cincinnati Reds.

During that ’75 campaign, Kirby started 19 games for the Reds and made 26 appearances. His record was 10-6 and he helped gobble up innings for the team. In the previous year, Kirby’s first and only other one in Cincy, he started 35 games, went 12-9, and threw 230 innings.

While on the roster in 1975, Kirby did not make any appearances in the playoffs with the Reds.

Dave Elder – A 2-year veteran that appeared in just 19 big league games, Elder was used very sparingly during his brief career as a major league baseball player. Spanning 2 seasons, Elder pitched a total of 25 1/3 innings. And in that time he gave up 23 hits while allowing 15 runs. His career record of 1-3 includes an ERA of 4.62 along with striking out 26 and walking 18.

Dave Henderson – Better known as ‘Hendu’, Dave Henderson enjoyed a successful 14 year career. A member of 5 different teams, Hendu’s greatest accomplishments came during his playing days in Oakland when his mighty A’s team battled for the World Series championship year after year. A member of ‘The Bash Brothers’, Henderson crushed 197 career home runs, with 104 of them coming during his 6 years with the A’s.

Reggie Walton – Walton’s career as a big leaguer lasted just 3 seasons and 56 games. Used as a utility outfielder, Walton was never able to find full-time work and he oftentimes found himslef as a back-up to the back-up player. Walton left the sport with a .250 batting average along with 26 hit, 2 home runs, 9 RBI, and a career batting average 0f .250.